Seib & Wessel: Is a College Degree Still Affordable?

8/21/2013 5:37PM

In an interview with WSJ's David Wessel, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities President Peter McPherson discusses the rising costs of a college degree and whether higher education is keeping pace with new forms of learning.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

the ... David Wessel of the Wall Street Journal joined today by Peter McPherson who in his current job as president ... of the Association of public universities ... thank you for being with us today ... Peter is you know ... the president this week is going to once again pound the podium and say that ... college costs are going up too fast ... and the old federal strategy of trying to increase financial a fast enough to keep up with rising to a thing can go on forever ... so he wants you to find a way remembers to find a way to slow the growth of two which ... is the right ... but we got we need to contain the costs ... of for the students ... you need to think about ... that we should with the cost of education is composed of ... two parts ... one Steel Corporation to two issues ... that's a whole ... so is the state to dramatically cut their state appropriations ... weaving injuries tuition to students ... and that those of the facts by ... either doesn't take away from the need for us ... to continue to work really hard to reduce costs ... read about twenty five percent more students in this country ... in public universities ... my group is a large public university twenty five percent more students than we did ten years ago ... so instead ... you get a lot more students ... cut in state appropriations ... money and come from somewhere and by and large that his standing ... because that which increases not everything but a big part ... when the president puts a spotlight an industry like yours says basically you need to be more efficient when ... making lineage of things the way you do ... the university's their trustees and residents react ... it's not a new spotlight ... so assembled years ... and I'm probably top two hundred presents over the last ... few months ... my usual called CEO things are going and I can think ... inversely everybody's saying ... I'm among higher graduation rates due to we can get there ... I try to contain costs for public universities were up ... for institutions for the public good ... so we feel pretty intensely ... that we get it be that I could see Michigan State for ten years and I know it the twitchy decision ... he is a good for Republicans to tweak ... these we ... we need a larger portion of the population of ... two groups ... and public universities have to be the targets ... the president is also talking quite a bit about finding better ways to measure the quality of the value of education so that ... parents and students and maybe even sometimes effect Sunday the federal ... student aid agencies ... can decide whether it's a good deal ... aam and now measuring the outcomes of education school trip ... do you think it can be done in a way that the public can use in the coming years well I think there's some things you can you can reason we look at ... whether student disagree ... now that that person has the scoreboard up now that really is in complete and our hope is that that can be changed currently ... it shows ... the percentage of students to come to an institution full-time first time as a freshman ... in with a graduate in a certain number years ... the the ... the University community has put together ... a website that will be fully operational October ... that will show not or will the first time for Time ... freshman ... but also the students to transfer the end the year degree ... student debt transferred onto another institution they getting the ... best a more complete picture we IKEA graduation rates ... I is a reasonable way to local news too ... yet they need to ration the preparation Global Stone ... II ... if you've got ... Ollie students coming and you would expect higher graduation rates but ... read the CSeries formation ... something we don't have now which I think in due course we will ... is this reasonable ... always hear your graduate get a job ... I'm now you might do the job right away or five years the best data the universities in the beach we don't ... practice of MCF from educators that they don't want ... to the government to be measuring how much people make when they graduate that makes it all seem like it's some kind of I'm ... so far I would distinguish between employment which almost everybody wants job and income income gets a little trickier because there are some types of jobs ... that some ... some areas of work that fighting each with a pretty low pay ... and also ... what your income is the new liao to college ... first is fighting to yourself ... but certainly with you when you have a job as a legitimate how will your job is a very legitimate question a few months after college ... it ... is reasonable for people ... this this information students need to pay ... as well as parents and society indecision reasonably can be based upon ... there's that there's more to of course college in the job ... and we always have to keep in mind ... you want to learn how to learn you want to ... I have a richer fuller view of things ... and ... by the employment is one of us ... one of the things we've learned in the newspaper industry and once upon a time you were to record the Dow Jones before was purchased by Rupert Murdoch ... and you know this is that ... technology as a way of making you do things in ways that you never imagine where possible ... and I think part of what the president says it is some other people is that ... the universe sees half to find a way to better use information technology on line learning ... to provide the same service or better for less cost is a realistic course at this and I think it's realistic and I see a lot of people working on ... I mean down move ... down the street here and Virginia Tech ... that doesn't teach anymore freshman and concrete calculus ... except by way of self piece ... on computer program ... they can go see a professor periodic Lee but nobody dies are getting ... substantially higher learning outcomes ... and ... and the cost or less I've seen ... in any place you could have heightened courses where you have ... the information technology is a component ... is well into traditional method ... I think particularly in those first couple years The G recourse is Kelton statistics ... that are the gateways to be true ... you're going to see more more this I think also ... that ... that the ... word ACN already in place to resume tracking systems were hit by a figment ranking students are doing ... you take that ... you take a picture of this course are you doing in part on wine ... you can ... you can feed into the tracking system ... when it begins to get in trouble ... and thereby ... and thereby peyote professor intervention ... of personal intervention or ... for student research or ... to service resources focused ... we're going to see the campus were directed to your brain Sentry campuses ... in a lot of distance education ... what does technology is in the BG not just ... for Costa's ... and they're ... very important ... but we've got a can of ... more of the neocons ... this ... universe Eastern thinking about ... these two things and tea and ... to contain costs and write ... the drive ... now I think the from ... from the outside corner view from someone is not a university although at a cost to eight years ... I'm ... that this there seems to be a bit of resistance sometimes a change to have traditional departments to professors are used to doing things they want the way they do them ... we got some of the institutions of higher education really model the ... seventeenth century Britain to stuff like that ... I'm confident that American hire a dictation is resilient enough to make changes without having a lot of disruption oh eight in it I had a few question to the data mining and even cookie sheet I would say see so many things happening ... the financial crunch ... the public interest and pressure ... but also the the assertive ... philosophical the commitment to public purpose ... we don't have one more ... piece in this country for the future ... and by the way these big public universities ... have a major role in basic ... research ... I think police or military side ... you look at your own investors which is good for now I became quite familiar with my keys and they don't ... coming years ago was that that he wouldn't be doing this program ... or anywhere that not many years ago all reporters though ... but now ... you have this multiple roles ... in and I think ... I you reach more people and frankly ... haven't ... in some ways very even more rewarding job ... well the American newspaper reporters are happy to serve as a model for the professor whatever I think there's you know I look at what the Joneses Down Wall Street Journal ... and other papers tonight I think the ... thing you can remember it is how resistant there was to this ... different role for report ... in your your intellectual creators ... of content just its faculty are so ... well they get it yes I think I see a lot of this happened ... I thank you very much intact ...